Tom Holland will swing from jungle vines as Nathan Drake in Uncharted

The UNCHARTED movie has taken years to get off the ground, jumping around actors, directors and all other manner of hoops. But this morning the film adaptation took a big leap forward by casting its young hero, and you have most likely seen him swinging around other films as well.

Deadline got the scoop that SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING star Tom Holland has been cast to play the hero Nathan Drake for the franchise, with the first movie acting as a prequel to the game series, which mainly features a more matured version of the character. The movie will take from the third act of the recent video game, UNCHARTED 4: A THIEF'S END, as well as telling the story of how he met up his mentor and partner, Victor "Sully" Sullivan (which takes from the third game, DRAKE'S DECEPTION).

The movie will be produced by Sony, which also has its hands in SPIDER-MAN, and it’s being said the decision to cast Holland is based around his stellar work as the web-slinging hero, which won over audiences when he made his debut in CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR last year. The new movie is being directed by Shawn Levy with the most recent script from Joe Carnahan.

Like many of you I was expecting a much different actor to be cast in the role like...anyone with facial hair. But given where the story is kicking things off I gotta say it's kind of perfect. The young Nathan Drake is innocent and naive, but also rambunctious and shows early signs of being a hilarious smart-ass. The actor has proven more than capable with terrific work outside of Spidey in THE IMPOSSIBLE, IN THE HEART OF THE SEA and LOST CITY OF Z. With the first movie acting as an origin story you can see Sony is prepping a big franchise around the movie, and it looks like they wanna keep it as linear as possible. With the franchise Holland will grow with the role, and in time could prove just as great a treasure hunter as he is a web-slinger.